Bad Day

It was “just one of those days.”

It started at 7:15 a.m. I put my oatmeal into the microwave; two seconds later it quit. It took a second to register that all our power had gone out.

I thought it fortunate that I had only plugged in the crock-pot a couple of minutes before, so I could “rescue” our roast by sticking it in the fridge. Nine hours (without power) later, the poor roast needed to be rescued from the fridge.

Luckily, we had one car parked outside, because a can of spinach couldn't have helped me lift our garage door manually. I didn't feel quite as lucky when I saw that the gas tank was empty. And all my remaining luck flew right out the window that I rolled down to wipe off the condensation, because after I rolled the window down I discovered that the manual crank was broken and it wouldn't roll back up. After 10 minutes I gave up and drove across town with the window nearly halfway down to drop off my son at school – 10 minutes late.

Did I mention it was a very cold morning?

C-c-c-coming back from that b-b-brisk trip I was praying that the power would be back on. I was greeted by not one, two, but three Edison trucks parked along the street coming into our neighborhood. Not a good sign. But still, seeing the trucks was a lot more reassuring than Edison's automated system had been. At least real, live humans knew our power was out. And it still was.

I decided to skip washing my hair, because I had no idea what I'd do with a sopping wet mess – with no blow dryer I had no hope of a style. Turns out that with my “bed head” I had no hope of style, either. But at least I didn't have to drive to work with wet hair and an open window.

On my way to work I decided I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, just like Alexander of picture book fame.

Then on the radio I heard the voices of young people sending Christmas greetings to their loved ones. They won't be home for Christmas to do it in person, because they are committed to serving our country in the military overseas.

Suddenly my bad day didn't matter so much. I know that any of those men and women on the radio could have curled my messy hair with stories of their “bad days.”

I immediately wanted to express my gratitude, but what can one person do?

One person can make a difference. A lady at my son's elementary school got the whole school involved with sending her son's unit in Iraq a box of letters and care packages. Now, I'd love to ship off a ham and a tree and 200 fresh cookies in a box, but it'd take me three years to organize all that, and I really don't know what I'm doing. Luckily there are hundreds of organizations that do know what they're doing, and they're doing it very well.

AmericaSupportsYou.mil has a “how you can help” page that lists all kinds of organizations that help in all kinds of ways. Some sites make donating phone cards, gift certificates and frequent flyer miles possible. You can donate plain old money to the USO for troop entertainment, or to FreedomCalls.org, which sets up video conferencing so soldiers can “attend” special family events such as births or graduations via satellite.

There are even “hands on” ways of helping, such as TheHugsProject.org which organizes volunteers who knit or crochet helmet liners, fingerless gloves and other warm gear to send to our troops.

Supporting local members of the military, perhaps sons and daughters of friends or co-workers, is the best place to start. Or at AdoptaUSsoldier.org you can “adopt” someone who might not have any support system back home.

And of course we can't forget how important it is to support families left behind by military deployment, especially at this time of year.

One person can make a difference. And in helping someone else you can forget about your own troubles.

So I've resolved to use any future “bad days” as a reminder to try to make it a better day for those brave men and women who are willing to fight for our country and for my freedom. And for me to have a home where I am only inconvenienced for a few hours of having no crock pot, blow dryer or car window.

This holiday season I want to say thank you to all the soldiers, sailors, guardsmen, airmen and Marines, and their families. Their safety and my gratitude are always in my prayers. My Christmas wish is for each of them to have a delicious dinner, a hot shower and a smooth ride of not-so-bad days going into the new year.